What is Insulin Resistance? What are Its Symptoms?

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Insulin resistance can be defined as impaired biological response to insulin. This condition can also be described as a decrease in insulin effect and the inability of the body to use the insulin it produces. The main function of insulin secreted by the pancreas is to allow glucose, which is the main energy source of our body, to enter the cell and be used for energy.

Carbohydrates taken from foods are converted into glucose by the digestive system. Immediately after, insulin enables glucose to reach the cell through the bloodstream. We will discuss how insulin resistance is calculated. However, let us first examine the subject in more detail.

What Does Insulin Resistance Mean?

Glucose carried in the blood is commonly known as blood sugar. When food is consumed, as the blood sugar level increases, the need for insulin also increases. Insulin is secreted by the pancreas in two ways. The first is continuous secretion, and the second is secretion after eating.

When more sugar is consumed than the insulin released by the body, accumulation occurs. This accumulation first occurs in the liver. This condition is known as fatty liver in society. If precautions are not taken, this accumulation also occurs in other parts of the body. With the pancreas secreting sufficient insulin and the decrease in insulin effect, insulin resistance occurs.

Through insulin, the uptake of sugar into muscle and fat tissue decreases. Thus, insulin resistance develops. Etiologically, there may be mutation in the insulin gene or incomplete conversion of proinsulin to insulin. In this case, abnormal beta cell secretions occur. Some hormones, free fatty acids, anti-insulin antibodies and insulin receptor antibodies in the bloodstream antagonize the effect of insulin. As a result, even if insulin is present in the body, since it cannot transfer sugar in the blood into the cell, it may cause hyperlipidemia, hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

What Is Insulin?

When patients encounter insulin resistance, they may also wonder what insulin is. Insulin can be generally defined as a hormone that regulates the level of glucose, that is blood sugar, in the body. Insulin was discovered in 1921 and opened a new era in medicine one year later. During this period, diabetes patients also started to be treated.

Where Is Insulin Produced and How Is It Secreted?

Insulin is produced by beta cells in the pancreatic islets. This hormone is bound to a protein called Proinsulin C-Peptide. The proinsulin molecule is stored in secretion granules as insulin and C-peptide separately. When carbohydrate-containing foods are consumed, they are converted into sugar, which is the body’s energy source, and pass into the blood.

What Are the Symptoms of Insulin Resistance?

When insulin resistance occurs in the body, some symptoms also appear. It is important that these symptoms are known by everyone. The symptoms can be listed as follows:

• Feeling of heaviness and sleepiness after meals
• Shaking and sweating after meals
• Stomach pain
• Excessive weight gain
• Desire to eat sweets
• Excessive fatigue
• Menstrual irregularity in women
• Gradual increase in waist circumference
• Darkening in the armpit, groin and neck areas
• Excessive hair growth
• Impaired concentration
• Sweet cravings
• Eating quickly and feeling hungry again quickly

Excess weight accumulates especially around the waist, and the waist circumference exceeds 90 cm in women and 100 cm in men.

What Should Insulin Resistance Be? How Is Insulin Resistance Calculated?

Blood sugar and insulin resistance increase at the same time. Therefore, fasting blood sugar measurement is required. The result obtained is multiplied by the insulin measurement result and the resulting number is divided by 450. The result obtained by this calculation expresses the insulin resistance level known as HOMA-IR.

This value should be below 2.5.